Boston -64 -- Mon. Feb. 15

Schedule off because of the holiday -- have to run today, since Tuesday will be a Monday sched. Decided to remind myself of the Jones 10 miler course, as it's only two weeks away. Parked at the Clark Memorial, set off on a mildish morning with chilly gusty wind, in shorts and ear muffs as I'm out of hats. To Strong, across to Nor'east, then up to the big (five mile) loop round to Atkins Res. Stop and stretch first, with 2.25 miles on the clock; definitely helps. Pretty tough first hill on the loop, but otherwise steady; do the whole thing twice, then back on Nor'east and Strong to the school parking lot that'll be the finish. Stop clock, thus:

Time: 1:45:38
Distance: 14.43 miles
Pace: 7:19s

Comment: finish off with a very slow 0.4 miles cooldown before driving home. The course is not too bad, though there are short steep slopes that will hurt when racing. Last time I was so distracted by the race and sleet I didn't notice how nice the course is for the most part--though the roads seem to attract *fast* drivers and be quite heavily trafficked, considering they're not really routes to anywhere (lots of locals doing shortcuts and students being students, I suspect). On the first loop I was aiming for mild but kept a pretty brisk pace, so the second was a bit slower, but I must have pushed over the last two miles--pace tracking on route was 7:30 ish, so a negative split for sure. Now, two days rest!